The ESFRI Roadmap 2026 Infoday, organised by the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI), took place in Brussels on Tuesday 8 October 2024. The event officially launched a new process to update the ESFRI Roadmap, which will result in a document scheduled for release in December 2026. Over the next two years, ESFRI will focus on analysing the European research environment to identify and promote the cutting-edge facilities, resources and services that enable research teams to conduct excellent research. These include, for example, laboratories with unique equipment, data archives, observatories, computer networks and other specialist tools available to scientists across Europe and beyond.
The event was attended by more than 130 representatives of research infrastructures, research policy makers, funders and research infrastructure experts. Participants received detailed information on the planned scope of the update, the requirements for new initiatives and the methodology for selecting new research infrastructure projects.
The Infoday also introduced the official call to the research community to submit proposals for new research infrastructures for inclusion in the ESFRI Roadmap 2026, with a deadline of 8 April 2025.
A key objective of the ESFRI Roadmap 2026 is to strengthen the European research ecosystem and enable efficient sharing of resources across scientific disciplines and countries. For new infrastructures, the emphasis will be on financial sustainability, clear focus and advanced implementation with full operation within ten years, according to ESFRI Vice President Gelsomina Pappalardo. One of the new aspects of the ESFRI Roadmap 2026 is the consideration of environmental aspects of research.
All information on the ESFRI Roadmap 2026 is available at www.esfri.eu. Already in June 2024, the ESFRI Landscape Analysis 2024 was published, which provides an overview of the available scientific facilities and services in Europe and identifies gaps, needs and opportunities for further development of research infrastructures.
On 21-23 October, the EOSC Symposium 2024 took place in Berlin, attracting over 450 in-person participants and more than 900 online from over 60 countries. The event provided an opportunity to discuss the future of EOSC. It kicked off with the launch of the first EOSC EU Node, the key to connecting European data services and infrastructure.
On 21-23 October 2024, Open Science Week took place in an online meeting format. The three-day programme featured a series of lectures and discussions on the development of open science, data stewardship and practical tools to help researchers in their daily practice.
